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HOWTO: Partition Your SDCard for A2SD
UPDATED 10/8
Velocity III is here!
Now lets get that A2SD working
So with the release of Velocity 0.3 (thanks Trident) I would imagine allot inquiry as to how to properly use the APPS2SD feature. Lets start with a little explanation:
The A2SD in Velocity is setup as a semi-intelligent script that runs at boot, it will check to make sure that your SDCARD has a second partition available (/dev/block/mmcblk0p2) that is formatted as an EXT file system, then it will move all of your application files from /data/app to your SDCARDs second partition, which is located at /system/sd, the script will then create a shortcut (symlink) from /data/app -> /system/sd so all newly installed applications will be placed on the SDCARD.
The easiest way to accomplish this is through the ROM Manager application available in the Marketplace:
1. Plug your phone into a PC and copy all data you want to save off of your SDCARD onto a temporary folder on your PC, When you are done backing up either unmount your sdcard, or unplug the phone from the PC
2. Open ROM Manager and be sure that you have the latest ClockworkMod Recovery installed. It will be apparent in the top RECOVERY section of the program
3. Scroll down to the UTILITIES section and select Partition SD Card, this will give you a menu allowing you to select the size in which you want your EXT partition on the SDCARD to be, Personally I would recommend using at least 128mb although there is no downside (other than losing an equal amount of space on your 1st partition) in making it as large as allows.
4. The ROM Manager will then ask if you would like to create another partition to use as SWAP, I would NOT recommend creating one (select 0mb) unless you have a Class 6 SDCARD. The constant writing to SWAP can cause problems with class 4 cards. If you still have the card that came with your Ally. Its Class 4
5. The ROM Manger will now reboot into Recovery to partition your Card, it will take a few moments for it to complete and afterwards you can reboot. You will notice that you have nothing on your SDCARD, you can now plug the phone back into the PC and copy all the data that you backed up in Step 1 to the sdcard.
Partitioning Your SDCard With the AmonRA (Drellisdee's) Recovery
1. Plug your phone into a PC and copy all data you want to save off of your SDCARD onto a temporary folder on your PC, When you are done backing up either unmount your sdcard, or unplug the phone from the PC
2. Boot up into recovery by holding down the SEND MENU and END buttons.
3. Select "Partition SDCard" Then Partition SDCard Again
4. I will ask for the size of the SWAP Partition, 32MB is default, 0 is no swap. If you plan on using a program like swapper to enable swap2sd then use 32MB, if you have a slower (class 4 or 2) SDCard, you will probably want to select 0 here. Use the "trackball" (arrow keys around OK button)
5. It will ask for EXT Size. I would recommend allowing for 128MB or more. I personally use 512 because I have a large SDCard.
6. It should now partition your card (if someone can PM me a verification that would be great, this is as far as I went since I don't want to RE-Partition my card lol)
7. Reboot into recovery again, and go to partition SD Card, you can now select ext2-3 then 3-4 for faster file system.
8. If you have Velocity 3 flashed already it will automatically enable A2SD on your first boot. Otherwise you will need to flash Velocity 3, or use Killertonez update.zip to install darktremmors a2sd
Please Note I write this section up mostly on memory and whatnot, so if you see any discrepancies, PLEASE contact me so I can correct this.
FAQ
So I partitioned my card without errors and rebooted Velocity 0.3 how can I tell A2SD is working?
You can test a2sd by opening a terminal emulator and doing the following
Code:
su
ls /system/sd
ls -l /data
df
If it is installed correctly you will see all your apps located in /system/sd and you will see a symlink from /data/app => /system/sd and df will show disk usage by partition.
My system takes longer to boot why?
The downside to having a2sd enabled is the system will have to check the filesystem for errors and mount the sdcard before it boots, this will add a few seconds to your boot time and your first boot may take a few minutes if you have allot of apps
All my apps in /system/app are still there
The script does not copy your system apks to the sdcard, it is not a good idea because then you would not be able to remove the sdcard without the system crashing
When I install a app from the marketplace my internal phone memory still goes down a little bit.
This is due to the dalvik cache for these apks still being stored in internal storage, at this time it may cause damage to lower quality (class 4) cards to store these files on sd.
Addition:
ClockworkMod has a problem mounting the partition it created . When wiping data you will see an error like this:
Code:
mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 on /sd-ext failed: Invalid argument
E:Can't mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
(File exists)
This means that it DID NOT wipe the 2nd partition on your SDCARD, if you just made the partition, ignore this message because it is blank anyway. But if you are reflashing you WILL need to wipe this information. For the time being you can wipe it through adb or a terminal emulator on your phone, there are better ways but this is quick and easy:
open a adb shell to your phone or a terminal emulator if you can and:
1. su
2. umount /dev/block/mmcblk0p1
3. mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /sdcard
4. ls /sdcard VERIFY THAT THIS IS YOUR /system/sd/ DIRECTORY IT SHOULD JUST CONTAIN APK FILES
5. rm -R /sdcard/*
6. umount /dev/block/mmcblk0p2
Or you can flash to Drellisdee's Recovery until Koush releases an update to ClockworkMod
Because this symlinks /data/app to the partition on your sdcard, anything that installs to /data/app (which is anything you get from the market, for instance) will be on the sdcard. The only way to force things onto internal storage is to install them to /system/app. I'm pretty sure the dialer and live wallpaper apps will be there by default. You'll have to move handcent to /system/app manually, either from the command line or with something like Root Explorer.
If you decide to move apps to /system/app, remember that you must first remount the /system partition read-write. You will also have to update them manually - updates will automatically install to /data/app.
The Following User Says Thank You to jetblack For This Useful Post:
Great guide, thanks! I followed instructions and thought all went well, but something isn't right. I'm using ROM Manager and paritioned the SD card as instructed. When the phone rebooted, the Velocity (I just flashed v0.3 today) logo came up is now blinking every 5 seconds or so. Phone isn't booting completely.
Not sure what happened exactly, but am wondering what a next step would be.
EDIT: Didn't work right, but I'm doing a recovery now and will try again! Sorry about the post.
Last edited by wgbeatty; October 5th, 2010 at 01:53 PM.
i bought an 8Gb Sd card not thinking about the class. So i think i messed up an now i have a class 4 sd card. can/should i partition my sd card for apps2sd? will i still be able to flash velocity .3 with out the partition?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oblivious72
i bought an 8Gb Sd card not thinking about the class. So i think i messed up an now i have a class 4 sd card. can/should i partition my sd card for apps2sd? will i still be able to flash velocity .3 with out the partition?
The class dictates the speed. Using a class 4 card for a2sd isnt horrible it will just run slower than a class 6 card. Having a fast card is not so much important for a2sd as it is for swap2sd
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oblivious72
ok thanks, i will try it and see what happens
EDIT: so what does apps2sd do? in a nut shell. does it free up space on my internal storage? is that all?
Well yes, it frees up internal storage space which is very important on the Ally since it uses mtdblock5 (/data/) as RAM/Swap space, so the more apps you have installed in internal memory the slower the phone will run. Putting them on a partition on your SDCard lets you install a whole lot of apps (way more than allowed on the internal storage) without slowing down the phone as much
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i did what you said to do in order to partition, but when i go to terminal emulator and type
su
ls /system/sd
i get
/system/sd: no such file or directory
Why are people having problems with creating an ext3/4 partition? Really all you'd need to do is download gparted, an ubuntu livecd, or something else with a partitioner installed and add an ext partition to your sdcard.
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Not sure what I am doing wrong. Every time I install a2sd_ally_OC.zip (running Velocity 0.2 and GNM_Turbo4), I end up with the Droid loop. And yes, I cleared the cache and the Dalvik-cache.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by netizenmt
Not sure what I am doing wrong. Every time I install a2sd_ally_OC.zip (running Velocity 0.2 and GNM_Turbo4), I end up with the Droid loop. And yes, I cleared the cache and the Dalvik-cache.
Any suggestions? Thanks!
Since you are on velocity 0.2 you have to flash a2sd_ally_velocity.2.zip first then a2sd_ally_OC.zip.
According to xda, partitioning does NOT work through ROM Manager. It didn't work for me. I am having the hardest time getting my card partitioned. Any suggestions before I go crazy??
It worked through ROM Manager for me or at least I think it did. Before partitioning, I had 92mb of internal space. After partitioning apps2sd, I had 112mb of internal space. I assumed that meant it had worked.
When you say it doesn't work, what exactly do you mean? Does it go through the process, like rebooting into recovery, but when it finishes it hasn't done anything? Or do you get some error message in ROM Manager when you try to partition it?
i did what you said to do in order to partition, but when i go to terminal emulator and type
su
ls /system/sd
i get
/system/sd: no such file or directory
??????
Mine says the same thing, but it did work. I tested it by downloading a 6mb app from the market and it installed and worked fine and I lost no internal storage space in the process.
On a similar note, how do you see how much space you have left on the sdcard for apps with a2sd since it's not listed in the stock storage space menu?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by woowoowooty
According to xda, partitioning does NOT work through ROM Manager. It didn't work for me. I am having the hardest time getting my card partitioned. Any suggestions before I go crazy??
Use drellisdee's recovery. Works flawlessly for me.
According to xda, partitioning does NOT work through ROM Manager. It didn't work for me. I am having the hardest time getting my card partitioned. Any suggestions before I go crazy??
ROM manager works with partitioning. The xda post you are looking at is old. Use drellisdees recovery if you have issues. It takes 2 minutes to fastboot a recovery.
I know i followed the directions i just wanted to make sure that it worked. I can tell that when i install and app my sd card memory goes down but my internal also goes down a little is that suppose to happen?
I'm having similar problems as others. I used ROM manager, which is using the latest CloworkMod recovery. I can tell that apps go to my SD car, and I can see the partition in my Disk Manager in Windows. However, I can't assign a drive letter to it there, so I can't browse on my computer. I don't see system\sd or sd-ext anywhere when browsing with Root Explorer. Using terminal emulator, I get the same '/system/sd: no such file or directory' message. And I don't see SD Card Secondary (or anything besides my SD card and internal phone storage) in my Settings>SD card & phone storage.
How can I browse the partition on my phone? Where are these APKs going?
I would prefer to stick with ROM Manager to do it. Something about AmonRA instructions didn't seem right to me. I could potentially use gParted as someone else suggested. However, that leads me to other questions, such as whether to put the new partition at the beginning of the drive (unlike ROM Manager, which put it at the end--and maybe that's why it isn't working). I could do it with Disk Manager on my computer too if I knew the answer to that question.
On a Droid.
Any help would be appreciated. Help focused on using ROM Manager would be preferred. Would flashing SPRecovery be better? I will likely try this next.
Last edited by jaytime; October 14th, 2010 at 05:38 PM.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jaytime
I'm having similar problems as others. I used ROM manager, which is using the latest CloworkMod recovery. I can tell that apps go to my SD car, and I can see the partition in my Disk Manager in Windows. However, I can't assign a drive letter to it there, so I can't browse on my computer. I don't see system\sd or sd-ext anywhere when browsing with Root Explorer. Using terminal emulator, I get the same '/system/sd: no such file or directory' message. And I don't see SD Card Secondary (or anything besides my SD card and internal phone storage) in my Settings>SD card & phone storage.
How can I browse the partition on my phone? Where are these APKs going?
I would prefer to stick with ROM Manager to do it. Something about AmonRA instructions didn't seem right to me. I could potentially use gParted as someone else suggested. However, that leads me to other questions, such as whether to put the new partition at the beginning of the drive (unlike ROM Manager, which put it at the end--and maybe that's why it isn't working). I could do it with Disk Manager on my computer too if I knew the answer to that question.
On a Droid.
Any help would be appreciated. Help focused on using ROM Manager would be preferred. Would flashing SPRecovery be better? I will likely try this next.
I'm not exactly sure how you would be able to view the ext partion on your phone. But with windows you cannot as it does not support the ext file system. You would need some 3rd party program to view ext partions in windows.
But the APK's are being stored on the ext partion on your sdcard i can confirm this because linux is able to see the partion as linux uses the ext file system. That's how i checked to see if my app2sd was working.
I doubt most of us here know what sprecovery is or anything droid related for that matter. But you never know.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jaytime
Thanks for the reply. ROM Manager wouldn't perform the Partition SD Card function with SPRecovery anyway, so that's out.
Shouldn't Root Explorer be able to view the partition? I can see the contents of the system folder, and no sd sub-directory.
Also, it doesn't show in the SD card & phone storage as a SD Card Secondary or anything. Is yours showing that?
I have tried both Astro and OI file manager and they both show the /system/sd as empty.
And yes SD card & Phone storage only shows my sdcard Total Space at 3.20gb which means its partitioned but maybe android only reads the fat32 partion and is not able to read ext partion and/or file systems? That's all i can assume. Just a thought dont have a definte answer.
Greetings all – longtime lurker. I am currently running velocity v0.3 with apps2sd on the stock sd card. Understandably, it has been buggy (i.e. FC’s and kernel panicks) as many in the forums where quick to forewarn about using the stock sd card. As I understood it the Ally came with a class 4 card, however after some research my card is actually a class 2. My device is about 5 weeks old. I am curious if others’ cards are class 4 or class 2? The reference I am using is:
I don’t have a complaint about the ROM’s performance (I was more than adequately forewarned about the stock sd card), just curious if they have downgraded the card that is currently shipped with the Ally?
Thanks to everyone’s hard work I thoroughly enjoy tinkering with my phone and the people who have put the work into this device make it easy!
Greetings all – longtime lurker. I am currently running velocity v0.3 with apps2sd on the stock sd card. Understandably, it has been buggy (i.e. FC’s and kernel panicks) as many in the forums where quick to forewarn about using the stock sd card. As I understood it the Ally came with a class 4 card, however after some research my card is actually a class 2. My device is about 5 weeks old. I am curious if others’ cards are class 4 or class 2? The reference I am using is:
I don’t have a complaint about the ROM’s performance (I was more than adequately forewarned about the stock sd card), just curious if they have downgraded the card that is currently shipped with the Ally?
Thanks to everyone’s hard work I thoroughly enjoy tinkering with my phone and the people who have put the work into this device make it easy!
i had a big problem with velo 3 with my stock sd. i upgraded from a class 4 4gb a class 10 8gb for 30$ and formatted it like in this post and and stopped crashing on me. my gf had a class 2 on he froyo droid. after the upgrade.... omg it was like greased lightning lolz
Last edited by myfishbear; October 23rd, 2010 at 05:36 PM.
Now maybe this has been covered and I just missed it.
If so would someone mind pointing me in to a quote or a correct thread.
How do you Properly do a backup with Drellisdee's recovery once you have apps 2 sd enabled on your phone.
I love wiping my phone all the time and playing with different roms... So
When I have apps 2 sd I have been doing a Nand back up the regular way. Now I flash to say Raptor.... BUT before I would do this I would Data factory wipe, cache wipe, dalvik wipe, and finally SD ext partition wipe.
I then put on the ROM, play with it for a few hours and then want to go back to my main ROM. Now when I do this I wipe all of those same things again. I then put on my Nand back up that was done the regular way and poof almost all of my apps are gone. the only ones left are the ones that come stock with that ROM.
So I am assuming that Drellisdees Recovery is not backing up the SD portion where my apps are now located thus when I put that Nandroid on there all of those apps are gone. I am sure there is some way of Backing it all up I just have missed that illusive step. Again guys sorry to be so Dumb. I sure do appreciate any help on the proper way of doing this.
I *believe* Clockwork does this but drellisdee's does not.
Hmmm how can we find out for sure? I always have heard that drells recovery was way better.
I am still inclined to think so.
Can someone weigh in on this?
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I'm not 100% sure but i believe that drellisdee's recovery has the backup nandroid+ext option. I've personally never used it if it's there. I will take a look ina couple of hours and see (its 4am)
I'm not 100% sure but i believe that drellisdee's recovery has the backup nandroid+ext option. I've personally never used it if it's there. I will take a look ina couple of hours and see (its 4am)
Oh my word.... so simple. I am so STUPID. I totally forgot about that option.
Man I feel like a MORON.
Dots as Usual your the man!!!
Ima try it right now.
I Love this forum.
p.s. I knew Drells Recovery was the best. LOL Dont need no stinking Clockwork... tewy
So I have velocity 0.3 with Clockwork/ Rom manager. I had partitioned my card but when I looked for files under System/sd there was nothing there. I tried to partition again and my sd was wiped. All my apps were gone including market. My laptop power supply crapped on me and I am unable to backup my sd card. I ordered a new PS for the laptop, but may not be here for a few days.
So my question is- Is there anyway to download the Market and just start from scratch?
So I have velocity 0.3 with Clockwork/ Rom manager. I had partitioned my card but when I looked for files under System/sd there was nothing there. I tried to partition again and my sd was wiped. All my apps were gone including market. My laptop power supply crapped on me and I am unable to backup my sd card. I ordered a new PS for the laptop, but may not be here for a few days.
So my question is- Is there anyway to download the Market and just start from scratch?
Ewww yikes!!!
Yeah thats not cool.
FYI everytime you Partition your your SD it Wipes the data.
So you should back that up before the patitioning. Oh man I am really sorry. that hurts. Well I would advise putting on a old Nandroid back up if you have one. If not you should be able to wipe all your data and then push the Market onto your phone via the .apk file. Or if it were me I would just flash velocity again. That should bring it all back to stock Velocity.
I highly reccomend using Drellisdee's Recovery over Clockwork.
Good luck Bro!
Last edited by swc2001; October 28th, 2010 at 01:22 PM.
My SD is backed up on the laptop, but like I said, cannot pwr on laptop till i get the PS cord. I guess i can wait a few days till I get it and hopefully get my apps back. In the meantime, im glad I still have a browser and phone.
My SD is backed up on the laptop, but like I said, cannot pwr on laptop till i get the PS cord. I guess i can wait a few days till I get it and hopefully get my apps back. In the meantime, im glad I still have a browser and phone.
Well since you have a custom recovery on there now, you could download velocity from drellisdee's link and boot into recovery and flash the zip from sd card. Idk how drell has it packaged in the download but it might be worth a shot.
Last night I received my PS cord and was able to power up my laptop.
Just want to chronicle some steps that I had to take in order to get my Ally operational again.
1. When I transfered the velocity0.3.zip info onto my SD, I had to clear cache in order to boot .zip file from SD in recovery mode.
2. This did not bring back my google and market apps, it did however bring back ROM Manager, Astro and Spare Parts, etc. But everytime i opened these apps, I would get a force close after a few seconds.
3. Tried my luck getting to my ROM Manager "Manage and restore backups"- before a force close and selected Stock Ally (my original Restore).
4. It worked- phone flashed to Android stock. Got all my apps back!!
5. Reflashed Velocity 0.3 and had to rebuild my Ally with my favorite apps.
Thank You dumbteentarget and swc2001 for your response!!
ALWAYS REMEMBER TO BACKUP YOUR SD CARD AND A GOOD WORKING ROM!!
*Only complaint- phone is runnung sluggish now- I will search that in another thread.
Well I have reflashed velocity and before even setting up my gmail I put on the Turbo4 zip. I wanted to over clock. Well Now everything works GREAT!!! except my apps2sd does not seem to be working.
Before I had 74 MB Now I have the same apps and only 18MB
What gives. How do I correct this?
Can anyone help?
Well I have reflashed velocity and before even setting up my gmail I put on the Turbo4 zip. I wanted to over clock. Well Now everything works GREAT!!! except my apps2sd does not seem to be working.
Before I had 74 MB Now I have the same apps and only 18MB
What gives. How do I correct this?
Can anyone help?
Well nevermind I used Killertonez Apps2sd and it worked like a charm. Still dont know why Velocities didnt work but hey its all good now Thanks to KILLERTONEZ.
ok so i followed the clock work steps outlined above. Phone rebooted all my apps where there but it didnt appear that anything had been moved to the sd card. so i rebooted the phone. it got stuck at the velocity screen (i let it sit there for 20 mins). I had to pop the battery out and hold the power button. then the phone rebooted but still no sd love. So i decided to repartition and start again. I reboot and now all my downloaded apps are gone. I have all the apps that came on the rom(Velocity V3) but none of my installed apps. If I go to market and try to download one of the apps I have it says Incompatible Update. Any ideas?
Worked great for me I just followed the Clockworkmod instructions to the letter. Anyways, simple simple way to tell if it worked.... Remove the SD card and try to launch one of your apps. It will immediately "force close". Put the card back in and if the app works.... then it's on the card.
I've had my Ally since early August, and the memory limitations (and occasional sluggishness) are finally prompting me into mustering the courage to try a different ROM.
After rooting, I followed the ClockworkMod instructions, and can successfully reboot into recovery. I've also backed up my current ROM for safekeeping.
However, when I try to partition my newly acquired class 6 SD card using Rom Manager, I always get the little droid character with the exclamation point, then a reboot.
Try going into the ClockWorkMod settings and put a checkmark in the Erase Recovery box. When I first installed CWM, I had a similar problem rebooting into recovery until someone suggested I try that and now it works everytime.
HOWTO: Partition Your SDCard for A2SD
. When wiping data you will see an error like this:
The mAndroid Connection
